1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an improvement in an electrical connector comprising a fixed housing which is attached to a circuit board and a movable housing which is coupled through conductive contacts with the fixed housing and provided with a connecting hollow in which a counterpart electrical connector is inserted to be electrically connected with the conductive contacts.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the case where, for example, a relatively small-sized hard disc drive conformity with the SATA (Serial AT Attachment) which is one of extensions of the ATA (AT Attachment) standard is electrically connected with a solid printed circuit board, on which various electrical parts are directly mounted, an electrical connector having a floating coupling portion which is able to move in a predetermined range to be coupled with the hard disc drive is used. The electrical connector having the floating coupling portion comprises a fixed housing attached to the solid printed circuit board and a movable housing coupled through conductive contacts with the fixed housing. A connecting hollow in which a counterpart electrical connector provided on the hard disc drive is inserted to be connected with the conductive contacts is provided in the movable housing to form the floating coupling portion with which the hard disc drive is coupled.
In such an electrical connector as mentioned above, vibrations and shocks acting on the hard disc drive coupled with the floating coupling portion are absorbed by the movable housing in which the floating coupling portion is provided. Therefore, the hard disc drive coupled with the floating coupling portion is protected against the vibrations and shocks acting thereon.
There has been previously proposed, as the electrical connector having the floating coupling portion, an electrical connector in which a movable housing provided with a coupling hollow forming a floating coupling portion is arranged to be able to move to a fixed housing attached to a circuit board in a predetermined range in its posture with which a counterpart electrical connector is inserted in the connecting hollow along a direction in parallel with the circuit board, as shown in, for example, the Japanese patent application published before examination under publication number 2006-59788 (Published document 1).
In the electrical connector having the floating coupling portion as shown in the published document 1, the movable housing provided therein with the coupling hollow is always kept in the posture with which the counterpart electrical connector is inserted in the connecting hollow along the direction in parallel with the circuit board to which the fixed housing is attached. The movable housing thus postured can move to the fixed housing in each of a first direction in parallel with the direction along which the counterpart electrical connector is inserted in the connecting hollow and second and third directions each perpendicular to the first direction.
When the counterpart electrical connector is not inserted in the connecting hollow provided in the movable housing, the movable housing is put in a first state in which the movable housing engages with the fixed housing to be temporary fixed to the same in the first direction. On the other hand, after the counterpart electrical connector has been inserted in the connecting hollow provided in the movable housing, the movable housing is automatically released from the first state so as to be put in a second state in which the movable housing is movable to the fixed housing in each of the first, second and third directions.
The above means that the counterpart electrical connector is inserted in the connecting hollow provided in the movable housing along the direction parallel with the circuit board to which the fixed housing is attached when the movable housing is put in the first state to be temporary fixed to the fixed housing in the first direction and then the movable housing accompanied with the counterpart electrical connector is released from the first state, without changing the posture thereof, so as to be put in the second state to be movable to the fixed housing in each of the first, second and third directions.
For such operations, a locking mechanism is provided to be related with both the fixed and movable housings for putting the movable housing in the first state and the second state selectively.
In the electrical connector having the floating coupling portion thus proposed previously, when the counterpart electrical connector is inserted in the connecting hollow provided in the movable housing, the movable housing is temporarily fixed to the fixed housing in the first direction and movable to the fixed housing in the second and third directions. Therefore, there is a problem that the connecting hollow provided in the movable housing is likely to shift its position in the second and third directions when the counterpart electrical connector is intended to be inserted in the connecting hollow provided in the movable housing so that the insertion of the counterpart electrical connector in the connecting hollow is not easy to be surely done.
Further, since the direction along which the counterpart electrical connector is inserted in the hollow provided in the movable housing is set to be in parallel with the circuit board to which the fixed housing is attached, it is necessary to move the counterpart electrical connector to the connecting hollow provided in the movable housing in parallel with the circuit board to which the fixed housing is attached in order to insert the counterpart electrical connector in the connecting hollow. This brings about another problem that it is not easy to move the counterpart electrical connector to the connecting hollow in parallel with the circuit board because the connecting hollow provided in the movable housing is usually positioned to be close to the circuit board to which the fixed housing is attached so that a space between the connecting hollow and the circuit board is relatively small and, in addition, various circuit parts are mounted on the circuit board in the vicinity of the connecting hollow.
Besides, the previously proposed electrical connector having the floating coupling portion comprises a large number of mechanical parts and is provided with a complicated mechanism for fixing the movable housing to the fixed housing in the first direction. This results in a disadvantage that the previously proposed electrical connector is inferior in its assembling easiness in production facilities.